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From YouTube: Q and A With Charles Stewart III
Description
Charles Stewart III is a political science professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and one of the co-directors of the CalTech/MIT Voting Technology Project. He has recently researched the effects of absentee and early voting in terms of their impact on voters, election administration and turnout. In August 2015, Stewart spoke with NCSL about early voting and more. In this three-minute video, he says that early voting is used by regular voters more than by occasional voters, and that overall turnout does not change based on the availability of early voting options.
A
Sturt,
the
third
is
a
political
science,
professor
at
MIT,
the
Massachusetts
Institute
of
Technology
and
he's
one
of
the
co-directors
of
the
Caltech
MIT
voting
technology
project
he's
recently
researched
the
effects
of
absentee
and
early
voting
in
terms
of
their
impact
on
voters,
election
administration
and
turn
out.
So
could
you
talk
to
us
a
little
bit
about
that?
What
effect
is
the
availability
of
early
voting
options
have
on
voters
turn
out
or
elections
generally
right.
B
Yeah,
so
you
know
the
the
the
factor
that
normally
gets
a
lot
of
attention
has
to
do
a
turnout
and
which
I
think
it
their
form
comes,
as
a
big
surprise,
maybe
disappointment
to
a
lot
of
folks
to
discover
that
the
academic
research
suggests
very
little
effect
of
these
sorts
of
techniques.
Early
voting
absentee
voting
on
turnout,
the
the
big
effects
that
these
these
techniques
have.
B
It's
not
so
much
on
turnout,
but
really
on
the
quality
of
the
elections
I'm,
seeing
both
from
the
perspective
of
the
convenience
to
the
voter
and
then
also
benefits
that
come
about
because
of
improved
election
administration
so,
for
instance,
with
respect
to
security.
If
we're
concerned
about
people
wanting
to
vote
on
vote
from
afar,
our
vote
before
Election
Day,
one
of
the
nice
things
about
early
voting
is
that
allows
voters
to
go
in
and
to
vote
with
an
election
official
observing
what's
going
on
and
so
for.
People
stay
concerned
about
absentee
balloting.
B
Maybe
the
the
ballots
getting
lost
in
the
mail
or,
inappropriately
assisted
by
say,
a
family
member,
then
there's
improved
improved
oversight
and
security
in
terms
of
convenience,
of
course,
giving
voters
an
opportunity
to
to
go
and
vote
say
when
they're
out
doing
errands
or
when
they've
already
made
up
their
minds,
and
you
know
they
can
fit
it
into
their
day.
There's
big
big
improvements
that
that
way
as
well.
B
So
so
the
bottom
line
is
that
voting
absentee
voting
voting
by
mail
primarily
has
the
benefits
when
they
do
occur,
of
making
things
more
secure
or
making
on
things
more
convenient,
I'm,
improving
the
quality
of
administration
every
now
and
then
there's
an
effect
on
turnout.
But
I
would
say
that
turnout
and
increasing
turnout
would
not
be
the
reason
to
adopt
any
of
these
any
of
these
techniques
or
making
them
more
more
liberal
or
easier
to
use
and.
A
B
The
first
thing
I
would
think
about
really
is
what
you're
trying
to
achieve,
and
what
sort
of
voting
mode
is
really
of
interest
and
really
of
comfort
with
in
whatever
state
you're
located
in
another
thing.
To
think
about,
too,
is
really
the
cost,
and
why
why
it
is
that
you're
doing
this
and
whether
you
think
cost
is
a
big,
is
a
big
factor
or
not.